The Satellite Dish

Red installs a satellite dish in the lodge, causing everyone to become glued to the television set.

Cast (in order of appearance):, , , , , , , , ,

Segments: The Possum Lodge Word Game, Red's Campfire Songs, Red's Visits with Possum Lodge Members, Handyman Corner, Red's Sage Advice, Buddy System, Red's Handyman Tips, Adventures With Bill, The Experts

DVD: Red Green: Stuffed and Mounted, Vol. 4

Watch the episode on YouTube

DVD Commentary by Steve Smith
{from Stuffed and Mounted}

STEVE SMITH: You know, people ask me where we get the inspiration for the things in our show. I'm not sure that "inspiration" is the right word. I think "desperation" comes closer. Uh, but it comes from everywhere. I was riding in a friend's car, and he had a little two-year-old... son or daughter or whatever, uh, sitting in one of those seats with {he makes driving motions with his hands} the little things with these make-believe steering wheels and the gear shift and everything. This was back in the days before anyone had a car accident. And, uh, boy, I thought, I, uh, I actually envied the kid; I wanted these things. And I thought even now, if I had to be a passenger in a vehicle, I'd be a lot happier if I had one of those pretend... you know. So then I thought, well, maybe we could exaggerate that and you could have one of those in your house, sitting in your living room. That'd be kind of fun, but then, why would you be driving your car watching TV? Then I thought, if we connect it to the TV somehow, and to the VCR, then there'd be a legitimate reason, and I'd think that your wife would be far less critical of something that is maybe not as attractive as some of the other living room... accessories. Anyway, you try it in your house and see how it goes. Don't call me.

Segment Summary
See also: Transcript

Opening Words: Women are watching the world. Men are watching television.

Plot: While walking around downtown, Red has seen a new satellite dish for sale, but instead of buying it, he makes his own, out of the roof of a corn silo. Red constructs a motorized unit to switch from satellite to satellite to get lots of channels. He then decides to use garage doors to hide the dish until ready. Later, however, thanks to the satellite dish, more and more lodge members become so glued to the TV that Red starts to have second thoughts about the whole deal. Harold offers to make them stop, only to become glued to the TV himself. But when something goes wrong with the satellite beam and they don't get a picture, Red couldn't be happier that things will soon be back to normal.

Adventures With Bill: Bill uses drainpipes and a TV antenna to make a giant pogo stick.

The Possum Lodge Word Game: Bob tries to guess the word "marriage" to win a free ice cream cone with any purchase of a scoop of ice cream from the House of Vanilla.

Red's Campfire Song: There are many things your head can do.

Visit With Ranger Gord: Gord is making his very own brand of coffee.

Handyman Corner: Red makes a man-sized TV remote control out of the dashboard of a wrecked car.

Red's Sage Advice: Hints that you may be middle-aged.

Buddy System: Red and Winston explain some golden rules to avoid trouble from women.

Visit With Buzz Sherwood: Buzz looks for the instructions for his all-terrain vehicle.

Red's Handyman Tips: Red shows how to start each new project with a clean workspace.

The Experts: Dougie explains to a viewer how to win back his girlfriend.

Explanations

 * Alimony denotes a legal obligation to provide financial support to one's spouse from the other spouse after marital separation or from the ex-spouse upon divorce.

Inside References

 * Red made a satellite dish by lining a patio umbrella with foil chip bags in the Handyman Corner segment of Cross The Lake Race, but that one blew away.
 * Bill pulls a hacksaw and some bungee cords out of his pants.
 * The TV antenna Bill cuts with the saw punctures the Possum Van's front-left tire.
 * On the TV, the episode of "The Red Green Show" shown is Car Pool.

Real-World References

 * Turner Broadcasting System, or TBS, is a prominent cable television network in the United States.
 * Thunderbirds is an English TV show from the mid-1960s, using marionette puppetry for characters.
 * Gilligan's Island is an American TV sitcom involving the misadventures of a two-man crew of a small boat and their five passengers who wind up stranded on a desert island after a storm drives them off their course for a three-hour tour.
 * Wheel of Fortune is an American game show, created by Merv Griffin. Harold mention of buying a vowel refers to the players on the game being able to buy vowel letters to help solve the word puzzle using the money they've won.
 * E.R. is an Emmy Award-winning American medical drama series that aired on NBC from 1994 to 2009.
 * Best of Celebrity Circus may be a reference to Circus of the Stars, an annual television special, from 1977 to 1994, that shows various movie and television celebrities doing circus acts.
 * Models Inc. was a short-lived American prime time drama, about the titular modeling agency, located in Los Angeles.
 * Lassie is a fictional female collie dog character. "An episode of Lassie" refers to a TV series starring the dog, which aired from 1954 to 1973.
 * Harold mentions several TV shows in the Star Trek universe, including the the original series (1966 to 1969), The Next Generation (1987 to 1994) and Voyager (1995 to 2001).

Famous People

 * One of the women Ranger Gord claims to see in the clouds is Barbara Bain, who is an actress best known for her role as Cinnamon Carter on Mission: Impossible.
 * Another woman Ranger Gord claims to see in the clouds is Raquel Welch, who is an American actress and winner of the Golden Globe.
 * "Newton" refers to Sir Isaac Newton, an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian who is perceived and considered by a substantial number of scholars and the general public as one of the most influential men in history.
 * The action reaction law is that "For every action force, there is an opposite but equal reaction law."